Growing scale will help UPC Polska compete with the largest players in the Polish market, according to Patrycja Golos, VP Corporate Affairs, Liberty Global CEE.

Speaking in a panel discussion at the opening of the 43rd International PIKE Conference and Exhibition, she added that UPC Polska currently reaches 20% of TV homes and the figure will rise to 30% following the acquisition of Multimedia Polska.

Although the recently announced deal has to be approved by the competition authority UOKiK, “we are optimistic about the benefits of this transaction for us and consumers”.

Golos also said that UPC Polska was pursuing a strategy of growing through both acquisitions and building infrastructure.

Tomasz Zuranski, the president of Poland’s second largest cable operator Vectra, echoed Golos’s view about the need to grow scale. He also said the company was pursuing a similar strategy to UPC Polska, buying smaller operators and building infrastructure.

Zuranski identified Wi-Fi as a problem for Vectra should it wish to compete with 5G operators. Furthermore, while seeing a “great future for the virtual world”, Vectra still had to cater for older cable customers, many of who used the internet for only basic tasks or not at all.

Both Golos and Zuranski also spoke of the need for a level playing field in the marketplace.